Bihar: Senior bureaucrat KK Pathak serves legal notice to Sushil Modi

BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi has been issued a legal notice by senior bureaucrat KK Pathak, who alleged that the legislator made derogatory remarks against him on the issue of prohibition.

In the legal notice served to Modi on 17 May, through his counsel Sanjay Singh, Principal Secretary (Excise, Provision, and Registration) Pathak, has asked the BJP leader to clarify within 15 days whether he had made those remarks or the media reported the same on its own.

Annexing a copy of the report published in a vernacular daily, Pathak described Modi's reported remarks as "indecent, unlawful, disgraceful and derogatory" and added that his "sentiment and dignity have been hurt by it".

He regretted that Modi allegedly used words like 'nirankus' (autocrat) and 'sanki' (eccentric) against him and said that he is a "public servant whose his duty is for betterment of public safety and security", besides his actions are always "under control of the government and the honourable court".

Asserting that there is a provision for an annual health check of serving bureaucrats under their service rules, Pathak said Modi, being a former deputy chief minister, finance minister and labour minister of Bihar himself, is supposed to know about it.

Pathak has been under sharp attack from the opposition for strict enforcement of prohibition in Bihar which came into force on 5 April, under which consumption, manufacturing, and transportation of all types of liquor and palm juice, called Tadi in local parlance, is strictly banned in the state.